The iconic Mini Cooper. Released in the 1960’s through 2000, its shape and size have made it recognizable world-wide. In 2001, BMW (Mini’s parent company) released upon the world the newest Mini Cooper. Larger in size and more luxurious in amenities than its predecessor, it’s a thoroughly modern Mini for the modern world. This is the second-generation R56 model (2007-2013). Continue reading for my review of this premium compact.
While I’ve had this car for almost a year, a busy personal life (and Road Reality being a hobby) left me with little time to detail the Mini and take pictures of it. This review will be updated with pictures once I get the time this spring, both to clean and photograph the Mini). Sorry for the delay, I’ll have quarterly posts going up soon too, so you can keep track of its progress in my stewardship.
After a fairly exhaustive search, I found this 2010 Mini Cooper S model at my local Mini dealership, and having spent the past several months with it, I have to say it’s been a good choice so far – albeit not without its own set of issues.
Let’s get some stats out of the way first. This well-optioned example of a 2010 came with heated leatherette seats, Harmon/Kardon stereo, Bluetooth, panoramic sunroof, and automatic climate control, all things not typically found in such a small package. It’s original sticker price was just over $26,000, while the base price was closer to $22,000. After putting almost 3,000 miles on my Mini, I can say it’s an endearing car, full of character and charm.
From the outside, the Mini appears diminutive, and it is, although the front seats have plenty of room, even for 6’4″ passengers. The back seat is more suitable for small dogs or luggage. What passes for a trunk in this car, is more like a briefcase slot. It’s a tiny area behind the rear seats, which probably will fit a few bags of groceries. Fold down the rear seats, however, and you’ve got enough room for two sets of golf clubs, so long as you remove the longer clubs (driver, woods).
Moving on, this is a Cooper S, it’s equipped with a 172-horsepower turbocharged 1.6-liter 4-cylinder engine. Torque sits at a stout 177lb-ft, with overboost bumping that figure to 192lb-ft. Now that your eyes have glazed over, I’ll boil it down to this: Weighing in at under 2,700lbs, the turbo four has plenty of oomph to propel the Cooper S to highway speeds and beyond. Not once have I felt it needs more power. In any gear, above 2,500 RPMs, the car just scoots. This car carries Mini’s internal designation of R56, replacing the R53 model and its supercharged engine. The switch in forced induction engines brought with it more power, better fuel economy, and much better reliability, according to my research.
Being front wheel drive, and with a turbocharged engine, it would stand to reason that the car would exhibit a lot of torque steer, where the steering wheel pulls left and right during hard acceleration. That just isn’t case, however, as BMW has engineered almost all front drive-ness out of the Mini Cooper S. Recently, a friend of mine was riding along with me as we went down some curvy roads in a spirited manner. His daily driver is a 2004 Mustang (which is a rear-wheel drive car), and even he was surprised to be reminded that the Mini is a front-drive car. BMW just did a heck of a job sorting out the handling. Even the electronic power steering, which has been criticized as numb, provides enough feedback to let you know what the front end of the car is up to.
But outright speed isn’t the Mini’s calling card: handling and stopping are. The brakes are fantastic, scrubbing off speed very quickly, and without any drama. Be glad that seat belts are mandatory, because in the Mini, if the driver brakes hard, everyone needs them. The brakes on this car are so effective, that after a few weeks of mainly driving the Mini, the brakes on my Ford F-150 seemed so squishy that I had the dealer look at them the next time I was in!
Turning is almost as drama-free as braking, so long as you aren’t going into a slow corner at ludicrous speeds. 30mph into a right hand corner? No problem – the tires don’t squeal and the car just stays glued to the tarmac. It doesn’t hurt if you lift off the throttle as you enter the corner, either, since it helps the rear end rotate around and point you in the right direction. If you go into a turn too fast, though, don’t worry: the Mini will let you know you goofed up through some easily-controlled understeer, without the expense of bodywork.
There’s an old adage in the car world that it’s more satisfying (and fun) to drive a slow car fast, than a fast car slow. That saying really comes to fruition with the Mini. The car is tossable and huge fun, even at speeds less than 50mph. In fact, I’d say that its sweet spot is 25-50mph. It’s a fine driver above and below those speeds, but at the speed limit of most surface streets, it’s an absolute blast to drive. On-ramps at 50mph? Check. Right turns at 30mph? Check. Quick lane changes and acceleration? Check. This car will bring out your inner Mark Wahlberg or Charlize Theron from The Italian Job. Gear shifts are crisp and fairly short, with typically smooth BMW clutch takeup. The gearbox is almost perfect, with fifth and sixth gears being slightly harder to engage. It’s not terrible though, because unless you’re planning to cruise down the highway, they’re almost not needed. First through fourth gears provide plenty of range.
Just like those Minis in the movie, this Mini’s ride is stiff. There isn’t much clearance between the fenders and tires, and the run-flat tires don’t help. It doesn’t jostle your kidneys too badly, but it’s no Lexus. It keeps its composure over less-than-perfect pavement, only getting a bit loose on really bad highways, but that owes more to its short wheel base than anything else. I have experienced some bump steer, where a bump in the road causes the steering wheel to twist in your hands. Nothing crazy, but worth mentioning. Going over speed bumps should really be a slow affair, so don’t say I didn’t warn you.
So now you know how the car drives, and I’ve gushed about the mechanical bits, but what about the interior, exterior, and fuel economy? As I mentioned before, the outside of a Mini is instantly recognizable as such. The cheeky motor gets a mild transformation with the addition of the scripted “S” beside the “Cooper” on the rear hatch, though. 16″ wheels are standard, as is a roof spoiler above the hatch and a hood-mounted air scoop. Whereas the hood scoop on the 2002-2006 Mini Cooper forced air over that car’s intercooler, this one doesn’t seem to provide much for the engine, mostly there for looks. On the Countryman S, in fact, there is no hood scoop, so it’s vestigial at best. The other most notable change is the center-mounted exhaust. Twin pipes announce to the world that you’re driving the upgraded “S” model, as opposed to the single exhaust tip on the right side of regular Coopers.
Sitting in the driver’s seat, all the Mini’s, ahem, unique ergonomics, come into view. Like the BMW I had before it, the window up/down switches are mounted in the center of the car – except here they reside on the center stack below the radio, as opposed to along the center console. The window switches flank a central lock/unlock toggle, useful if your passenger doesn’t like BMW’s pull-twice-to-open doors. In regards to those toggles, it seems the designers went full bore with the rally-inspired designing, as anything that can be a toggle, is. Almost every main control on the center stack is a toggle. They’re quite functional, and luckily, dividers prevent you from hitting multiple toggles simultaneously. Moving up the center stack, a standalone knob is for volume, while the one above it, more integrated into the radio, is actually a multi-function knob to modify settings on the radio and on-board computer. Continuing up, a giant analogue speedometer occupies the top half of the center stack, giving the passenger a very clear understanding of just how extra-legal your current speed is. Directly in front of the driver is a tachometer, tucked in between the center horn button and rim of the smallish steering wheel. Luckily, Mini’s techno-wizards decided to add a digital speedometer to one of the little screens inside the tach, so you can keep an eye on your engine RPMs, road speed, and the road without moving your head. Apparently this less normal ergonomic setup has driven some traditionalists or non-BMW types nuts, so Mini has rearranged everything for the 2014 Mini redesign.
Given the push-button start, there’s a slot to insert your key into. Just like parent company BMW’s car’s, the Mini charges up its own key/fob, and the service advisor at your local Mini dealer will insert the key into a reader on his computer. This tells him or her all about your car, including things like service intervals, problems with the car, as well as your information.
Materials in the Mini’s cabin are a mixed bag – literally. Everything from hard plastic on the steering wheel and parts of the dash and door cards, to soft-touch plastics on the tops of the doors and dash, to the optional piano black trim found in my Mini, it’s a sea of black, just different shades. It works, though, as the most often-touched surfaces are soft, the piano black trim isn’t anywhere that could cause glare issues, and from the pillars up, off-white fabrics and plastics are used to brighten things up. Unlike some other cars (Hyundai Sonata, I’m looking at you!), it’s harder to tell where BMW cut corners. The overhead lights and sunroof controls are the flimsiest part of the car, moving with your toggle activation. Oops. Other than that, though, things on the inside seem well-packaged and thought out. If you aren’t a fan of black, there are plenty of other trim types, from carbon fiber to silver.
A small niggle with the Mini’s storage – there isn’t much. I know there isn’t a whole lot of space, but there’s a tray between the front seats that in this case, is covered by an optional arm rest. The arm rest itself has enough storage for an iPhone or your wallet, but there could (and should) be more cubbies. While we’re on the topic of cell phones, the BMW-sourced iPod cable, which uses both the USB and auxiliary in plugs, isn’t quite long enough. Your phone either ends up in a cup holder, or awkwardly resting in the tray beneath the parking brake. It would fit in the area underneath the center stack, except for then you can’t get to it.
With such a small cabin, you’d expect to be claustrophobic, but the designers were smart about that. Lots of side window glass leads to excellent sight lines and visibility. Add in the optional panoramic sunroof, and it’s downright open in there. That panoramic sunroof is a two-part affair, with mesh shades that roll up into the center crossbeam. They always allow light in, which adds to the airiness of the Mini’s cabin, but also lets it heat up quite a bit. Top tip: To vent all that hot air, hold down the unlock button on the Mini’s key fob, and it will roll down the windows and tilt the sunroof up. Unlike other panoramic sunroofs that I’ve seen, the Mini’s rear glass actually moves. When tilted up, both halves of the sunroof lift up. When fully opening the sunroof, the rear section drops back down, allowing the front section to ride above it. It’s a quiet setup, up until you reach highway speeds, at which point some wind buffeting allows for an uncomfortable amount of chop.
Which brings me to other noises. While not the loudest ride, the Mini Cooper isn’t the quietest vehicle out there. Whereas I’ve needed ear plugs in other small cars, BMW’s engineers were smart about the application of sound deadening, allowing in only small amounts of tire, wind, and road noise. The squared-off side windows don’t help any when they’re not fully raised, but there’s a comfortable compromise with the sunroof tilted up and one window cracked open. Just remember to close the windows before engaging in a Bluetooth-enabled phone conversation. Like a lot of other vehicles, the BlueTooth microphone is in the headliner. When all the windows are closed, however, the conversation is very clear, or so I’ve been told.
Also in the realm of noises, the Mini has some squeaks and rattles. From some online research, these seem fairly common. If they bother you, foam bits can be used to soften them, or you can just turn up the radio or open a window, which is what I do. Almost every Mini I’ve driven, save for a new one, has exhibited some level of creakiness. None of the noises appear to effect the car’s driving, though.
To sum up, the 2010 Mini Cooper S features plenty of power, great steering and braking, quirky ergonomics, a comfortable seating position for two or less, and enough character and BMW-ness to satisfy a driving enthusiast. Whereas BMW has been known for “The Ultimate Driving Machine” and even their stalwart fans have been protesting the addition of more weight and luxury while giving up the pure driving experience, the Mini Cooper still exudes those qualities – except it’s front wheel drive, which is an instant turn-off for some.
by John Suit
Special Thanks for Salesman Nick Kahar of Mini of Montgomery County, for his help in finding the car and explaining anything I had questions about. If you’re in the market for a new or used Mini, please see Nick!